The Mk 4 Focus 1.5 ecoboost petrol engine is it a

[catch]

3 pot or four pot ?

reason I ask is all the pro reviewers say it is a 3 pot, but on Auto Trader looking under the  "Economy and Performance" tab it is listed as a 4 pot 16 valve

Look it up on Parkers specification tab and the cylinder and valve info is left blank, so which is it?

Reason being I may be trading in my trusty Mk2.5 Focus 1.6 for a turbo boosted variant, call me old fashioned but I would rather have a 4 pot but without going the ST route.

If it is the 3 pot jobby I may be tempted to go the Golf 1.4 TSI route.

Any of my old playmates still out there, how you all doing, looking at the online tab 99% seem to be guests or members viewing incognito 😎

[Comares2001]

Its 3 cylinder and brilliant.Loads of torque particularly in 182bhp guise

[iantt]

3 cyl but can run on 2 cyl when cruising/ light load. 

[Guy Heaton]

It actually sounds better than the average 4pot imo, both in 1.0 and 1.5 form.

Don't worry about it being weedy.  My 182bhp version has a similar output power and torque figure to my old 2.6v6 gsi, but with peak torque coming in earlier due to the turbo 

[Tizer]

It is a very refined engine, you would never know it was only has 3 cylinders.

I came from a MK2.5 Tdci to a 150 bhp 1.5 and the Torque is the same, but the petrol engine is a lot faster and more refined.

Be aware that does have a Particulate Filter though, but I think all newer petrol engines are being fitted with them.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

3 hours ago, Guy Heaton said:

It actually sounds better than the average 4pot imo, both in 1.0 and 1.5 form.

Yes, I think likewise, 4 pots seem a bit characterless once you get used to the triple - I did find it took some time to get my head round it though, when it first came out. (We're 100% triple at our house at the mo, as the Mrs has the normally aspirated VW version in her SEAT Mii.) A mate of mine is in the market for a new car at the moment and he didn't like the triple (he's never driven one before) and looks likely to stick with the 4 cylinder format.

9 hours ago, catch said:

If it is the 3 pot jobby I may be tempted to go the Golf 1.4 TSI route.

Must say though I've been impressed with these also when I've driven them.

[Guy Heaton]

If it's just the concept of 3 that puts you off I'd definitely recommend test driving before you discount them.

[catch]

Thanks guys for your input much appreciated. Thing is I like to buy higher spec'd three year old cars, but for circa half the retail cost of new. I bought my current Focus on its third birthday.

I like the balance of a 4 pot nothing getting shuck to bits, no need for potentially troublesome dual mass fly wheels and the like, and staying away from potentially dodgy powershift gear boxes...nice and simple but willing to go turbo for a bit more umph when needed.

Now if I buy a 16 or a early 66 plate highly spec'd ( including four option packs ) Golf 1.4 TSI Bluemotion Tech Match Edition with £30 road tax,  127mph, 0 to 60  in 9.1 seconds and a Honest John real world 46.6mpg

Now a simulair aged Focus 1.5 4 pot Mk3 facelift is £125 RT, top speed of 130mph, 0 to 60 in 8.9 with real world 39.5mpg oh and the Golf has a 20% bigger boot handy if you like self catering hols.

I must admit like the look of the Mk4 and as always the Focus is best in class regards the drive, and a bigger cabin than the Golf and nearly same size boot. After one Mondeo and three Foci it will be a wrench leaving what I found was a reliable marque.......will I jump ?

[Eric Bloodaxe]

43 minutes ago, catch said:

no need for potentially troublesome dual mass fly wheels and the like,

Pretty hard to avoid DMF's these days, 4 cyls or not😞

[Jonny be good]

I've had my ST-Line X 1.5 182 auto a few weeks now got to say i love the engine like Guy said it does sound a lot better than a 4 pot it's got character kind of like a porsche when accelerating sounds lovely and with the turbo noises too from standard is pretty nice. I've got to say it's definitely quicker than the stats suggest my previous car an Alfa giulietta 1.4 170 was 0-62 in 7.4 and this focus is definitely quicker maybe i'm a lucky ****** and got more power than the 182 😂 You would love one of these over a Golf 1.4 TSI got character, seats are comfortable loads of room inside decent boot size and great cruising on long journey's with low road noise. Test drive the two and see which you prefer but on the 3 pot/4 pot you won't even notice the difference with normal driving

[catch]

Appreciate what your all saying and I notice you have all got newish cars. But you have got to understand my prefered car buying approach, which over time has served me well. I've only ever borrowed money to buy property, and businesses. Everything else in life if I did not have the brass to buy out right it did not get bought, and that included cars. Now apart from once buying a 6 month old Ford Mondeo GLX, most cars I buy are usually 3 years old, and usually for half the cost of new. Current car is 8.5 years old and like all my motors never let me down never been strandered on a motorway..

Look when I was born and whilst a toddler there was still food rationing, I'm from a generation that does not need to have it all now.  Don't get me wrong you makes your money and spend it how you want and why not. Just saying I retired when I was fifty one and have enjoyed ever minute of it, you cannot buy time. So I look for the potential for longativety in motors, these three pots may be really good and long lived, but I'll stick with 4 pots until I go Electric. Mind you I'm now measuring my likley life span by how many world cups I got left in me.  🙄

 

[Guy Heaton]

I'm 49 so I am not a "have it now" generation either.  

However at this stage in my life PCP actually makes more financial sense than outright purchasing.  I never thought it would and have always bought for cash before.  Locked my mortgage in for the last 10 years of its span so I know exactly what I'll be paying.  Same with PCP until I retire.  I'll know exactly what I'll be paying each month.

I've driven many cars down the years and both the 1.0 in our Fiesta and the 1.5 in the Focus feel like strong engines.  If you did not know they were 3-pot you would not know.  

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, catch said:

Look when I was born and whilst a toddler there was still food rationing, 

Me too, I always use that as an excuse for not being not very tall! So far, the only occassions I've taken finance on a rapidly depreciating car were at 0%😀. As Guy says above though, PCP's etc can make sense for people at times, so I always consider them carefully when making a purchase. At the end of the day, whichever method you choose, you're just funding the depreciation over the time you have the car.

[catch]

So Eric thats what is was, me being a short @rse as well...the rationing!

I tell you what though I struggled to clear me plate at the Queens Coronation street party 😂

Getting back on topic I think I'll stick with my Focus for now as the mileometer has just flicked over to 52,000, it's well shod and runnng sweet as a nut. I was offered £2,500 for it against a 2016 fully loaded Golf......nice motor but not keyless start like my 2011 Focus and the Focus has a bigger boot.

If a low mileage motor is anyones bag try typing  PF14 VRW into the check MOT history web site.....it will take some beating..

[catch]

On 10/5/2019 at 6:09 PM, Guy Heaton said:

 

However at this stage in my life PCP actually makes more financial sense than outright purchasing. 

Hi Guy thanks for your input,

Good move regards the mortgage.

Now I accept it is my fault for wandering off the initial thrust of the thread ...3 or 4 pot?

I'm not disputing PCP plans will work for alot of people, especially peeps who want to borrow / drive new cars for a term of say a 2 to 4 years with the option to buy outright of just hand back to the finance company. Using the below linked example of how a PCP works, the finance company works out the expected depreciation of the vehicle over the contracted term and basically bills the borrower ( minus the deposit already paid ) that figure + interest on a monthly basis.

I on the other hand dont get to borrow a newly registered car, but I do get to avoid having to finance the biggest lump of depreciation the vehicle will suffer in its entire life time before it is handed it back to the finance company. PCP plans ensure there is a massive choice of late model mint cars coming onto the resale market for which I'm eternaly greatfull as they enable me to buy at "Ballon Payment" valuations, so you could say PCP plans work for us both 😉

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/car-finance/personal-contract-purchase/

PCP how does it work?

Ok, so this might sound a bit complicated so here's an example to explain how it works...

Let's imagine you sign up for a PCP over three years to buy a car with a ticket price of £18,000. You put down a deposit of £2,000 and the finance company calculates that the car will be worth at least £8,000 after three years. Here's how that would look...

To 'borrow' the car you pay...
Deposit: £2,000
Loan: £8,000 (£10,000-£2,000) plus interest 
Total: £10,000 plus interest

To buy the car you pay...
Deposit: £2,000
Loan: £8,000 (£10,000-£2,000) plus interest
Balloon payment: £8,000
Total: £18,000 plus interest

 

[alexp999]

If you are looking at MK3 1.5s they are 4 pot

Only the MK4 focus has the 3 pot 1.5.

 

[Guy Heaton]

There's a lot to be said for sticking with a car you know and have looked after.

[south_bound]

44 minutes ago, Guy Heaton said:

There's a lot to be said for sticking with a car you know and have looked after.

Couldn't agree more.  I've had my Mk2 for nearly 12 years now, worth next to nothing on the open market but running well and has never let me down.  OK, a new one would have more bells and whistles but I drive enough of them as hire cars for work to know I would be disappointed as soon as the new car smell starts to go stale and it needs a wash and hoover (not that I do that very often either).  There seem to be so many problems with newer cars as seen on this forum that I often think I am better off knowing what I have will keep going a bit longer.

[catch]

Alex I was only interested in the Mk4 1.5 148bhp I like the look of it, I like the dash and the Honest John real world 45.2 mpg

Mk 3.5 externaly is fine, I don't like the dash way to fussy and whilst visual opinions are subjective, no getting away from Honest John real world  39.5 mpg

Guy and V  I could not agree more, and yes V the less tech the less to go wrong, I have had Turbo's before and willing to get another.

The plan was first set of new tyres I put on this car would be the last circa 2022, I swop out tyres at 3.0mm as a rule. Mind you as a lad I used to run a A35 van with a back seat conversion on remoulds 😯 mind you 0-60 mph in 31.0 seconds 🤣

Anyway over five and a half years of ownership present Mk2.5 has cost  £420 in servicing, £165 in MOT's, £221 in repairs and renewals and £270 in set of premium tyres and it has depreciated by £5,032,

What set the "should I sell earlier than intended" train of thought seeding in my head was the fact my trusty tomtom GO 520 was not able update....and was suffering lazy connecting to sat's  but seems OK for now. I like the tomtom as  I have it set to give an audible  warning when breaking the speed limit and a cash register sound if I break it by 10 mph

I think I will eventually go the 47.5 mpg 128 bhp Golf 1.5 Evo TSI Match Edition route, being the last of the purely 4 pot offerings before the 2020 Hybrid Golf is marketed and with Ford going 3 pot

But will wait for the final run of Mk7.5's  as they have just announced it will have LED headlights, 2 Zone Climatronic, and Winter Pack as standard, thats the wife's heated seats demand sorted then ☺️

 

 

 

[TomsFocus]

I wouldn't take much notice of Honest John's 'Real World' MPG...I've never found it to be anywhere near accurate myself!

[Guy Heaton]

I'm looking forward to hybrids.  Toyota have managed to produce the Corolla with a bit of poke.  Would love to see Ford hybrid the 1.5 to 200bhp.

I remember the good old days of remoulds aye.  On my early cars they made sense.  A Morris Marina was never going to corner fast enough for them to be a problem.

[catch]

When I was eighteen I came into a little "Industrial Injuries" windfall. Well not a windfall exactly seeing as I had to part with the tip of a finger down to the first joint, anyway's it got me into the car buying market. I remember looking at a split screen Morris Minor, but settled on the A35 van with the collapsible back seat conversion. Lets just say the rear seat "ingognito" aspect of it appealed to me more 😎

We live on a square of 12 houses and two have Nissan Leafs as their only cars, they love them, I cannot wait until they become main stream. Mind you by the time they have a range of 400 miles we will probably only be fit to bomb down to Cornwall on a Shearings Holidays Coach.

Tom

Regards Honest John's real world MPG pages , yes I accept they are not the result of controlled trials. Whilst each individual who inputs data will have different journey mixes of milage speed, conjestion and roads travelled. It had to be better than the old system used by the motor industry.

And speaking for myself a self confessed "data and numbers junkie" I have spread sheets on every aspect of living, Income out goings, investments etc, split into sub sections ( result of years running my own businesses, all new to me on setting up or buy as going concerns ) I'm of the belief that it is better the data tells you before the liquidator tells you. Obviously I do a spread sheet for the car. I have five full years of mileage / petrol data. I split holiday motoring data (boming up down motorways etc) from the rest which I call urban though it can include cross country trips 30 to 60 miles in duration. No commutes as we are retired so you could say it averages at around a  38/62 split

Honest John figure for Mk 2.5 Focus  1.6 ........35.80mpg

My motorway touring mileage has a spread  of 38.74 to 40.46 mpg . Rural/Urban  32.5 to 36.80mpg which collectivly average out at 36.42 mpg so I find HJ data is near enough the mark for me.

 

 

[catch]

Tom I see you run a Golf, I was speaking to a guy who had run them for years and love them. Though he did say every new Mk he bought did not seem to be as good build quality wise as the one before it. I did not know the guy he just came down our road to jump start a mate of his Jag that had a flat battery. So no real conversation followed on from that comment. Any comments, and how do you rate the 1.4 in relation to the newer 1.5 has there been problems with the latter.